Going Steady: New Singles 5-3-19 – 5-9-19 Reviewed

Rebel Girl – Angels And Airwaves – The blink-182 guy managed to form a band even worse, this is pretty much a mid lull rocker going nowhere  – C-

Gimme – Banks – Experimental, white girl r&b – B

Boy – Bastille – The most successful recent UK rock band adds 808s to bland rock, yet again – C

Bestie (feat. Megan Thee Stallion) – Bhad Bhabie, Megan Thee Stallion – Nicely done, Meghan is a big time rapper but Bhad is no slouch either, and the hook, “go bitch, go bestie”?  a goodie – B+

Century – Big Thief – Of the three singles we’ve heard so far, here the band are moody, with a LA 70s sound brimming right underneath their indie folk, but a little ordinary – B

Talking Heads – black midi – Quirky post-punk, named after the band – B

Hard to Kill – Bleached – Not bad pop punk, I prefered the sisters earlier sonic trails harshness – B

One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below) – Seacrest Motel rehearsals – Bob Dylan – From his worst album, a bad song, from his worse tour – C+

The Heart Is A Loaded Gun – Brion Starr – Brion recorded the album in Ray Davies formerly owned Konk studios, coulda fooled me but not bad 70sish rock – B

I Dreamt We Spoke Again (Scientist Remix) – Death Cab For Cutie – Weird little spook out echoed out drums sound – B-

DntTakeMe4aPoes – Die Antwoord, G-Boy – These guys used to be so much fun, this is a droopy brooder – C+

Long Slow Goodbye – Eagles Of Death Metal – Well, it’s better than Angels And Airwaves, old school riff monster – B-

I Need Help! – Fitz And The Tantrums – I always liked these guys on stage, but never thought they moved their disco pop soul well enough on record… same problem here – C+

Gold Past Life – Fruit Bats – 00s style indie pop, good arrangement, especially the vocal, the song is a little bland – B-

DameLove (feat. Cuco) – Girl Ultra, Cuco – Mexican crossover, featuring an acoustic guitar hook and an absolute sultriness – B

Round Prairie Road – Jamestown Revival – Nice harmonies, sweet Americana folkieness, and a catchy rootsiness – B

Spent So Long – Jamie Harrison – Soft sell pop balladeering, singer songwriter bruised heart breaker -turn it left and it is country, turn it right and it has the seeds of EDM ballad  – B+

Started – Iggy Azalea – Apparently “Sally Walker” was the exception, this is a typical piece of braggadocio blah – C

My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight – John Prine – Prine does well by the classic – B+

Firesmoke – Kate Tempest – A disappointment from Kate, one of our best rapper-poets, she isn’t quite right for love songs – B-

New York City – Kylie Minogue – The pintsized, disco diva, gay icon has a greatest hits coming out soon and while “New York City” is a new, salting the mine come on, she doesn’t need one and it is good enough to lead off an album of new songs. Either way, this straight up banger, with fun raps, synths and a boppin groove ode to ground zero of planet earth, is perfectly excellent – SINGLE OF THE WEEK – A-

Hold Me While You Wait – Lewis Capaldi – Piano based, singer songwriter, horrorshow love blah – C-

Homicide – Logic, Eminem – The Chris D’Elia sample is yucky, the raps are dumb, but the tongue twister flow ain’t bad – B-

I Rise – Madonna – The Maluma song was terrific, this one is meh, and my bet is the new album won’t be as good as Rebel Heart -an underrated masterwork of all things Madonna and her best tour ever (here). And for you ageists out there, please fuck off  – C+

I Thought You Were Dead – Morrissey – An outtake from the last album, a really good one – B

Still – Maxo Kream – Houston gang banger, spits it hard – B

Black Star Dancing – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Now we know that Noel can program a Pro Tools, we hope he finds a better use for it than this bland EDM pounder – C+

Some People Do – Old Dominion – Country dull as dishwater – C

I Feel Emotion – Operators – Self important indie stuff plus 808s but it is certainly felt – B-

Solid Gold – PNAU, Kira Divine, Marques Toliver – Remember that thing the EDM band did with Elton? Well, if you liked it,  here is more without Elton – C+

Don’t Ask Me Twice – Porridge Radio – Obstreperous indie, though the male female vocals merge sort of sweetly – B-

Exhale – Sabrina Carpenter – Her breathy vocals are pop money in the bank, and she always seems to be on the verge, the fade out here is excellent, but the song is a drag – C+

sunshine – Sebadoh – Not unpleasant and Lou Barlow is one of the nicest guys in the music business – B-

If I Can’t Have You – Shawn Mendes – Terrific little pop confection (Shawn has called The 1975 an influence) with the hook of the year – B+

A Million Dreams – Susan Boyle, Michael Ball – Yes, it is well beyond horrible, but if you must have horrible MOR, better Susan sings it – C

Rocket Man – From “Rocketman” – Taron Egerton, Elton John – The movie looks real good – C

Got Your Number – The Kooks – The Kooks exist so Arctic Monkeys fans can say, “hey, at least they aren’t the Kooks” – C

Hairpin Turns – The National – You know, in retrospect I overrated the first single  – C+

Tumult Around the World – Titus Andronicus – I always seem to be beating Patrick Stickles up for not living up to my expectations, but “Tumult” is a dumbass trope that was beneath Patrick in 2010  -despite some cool oohs in the background. For one thing, when, precisely, was there not tumult around the world?  B

That’s Country Bro – Toby Keith – I know what you are thinking but he rhymes “Patsy Cline” with “We lost Hank Williams at 29” -so, you know… – B

Go Loko – YG, Tyga, Jon Z – Add a Puerto Rican  trap rapper to bad boy Tyga and ready for his close up YG, and you might get something a little faster than this, but you don’t – B-

Scenes (feat. PnB Rock) – YoungBoy Never Broke Again, PnB Rock – Not bad, but maybe PnB was holding his best stuff for his recently released album – B-

Extendo (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) – Young Nudy, Pi’erre Bourne, Lil Uzi Vert – Uzi sounds great – B-

Hotel Last Resort – Violent Femmes, Tom Verlaine – Five minutes of folkie blues horror – MUST TO AVOID – C-